July Hatch-a-Long (including 4th of July hatch-a-long)

[UThobbyfarmer]

Fingers crossed! Has anyone ever tried shipping with UPS or FedEx to see if they're any better? USPS seems so awful that any savings up front seems a false economy if "the goods" don't arrive in decent shape.

I have not. The biggest changes I've made to shipping that seem to help hatch rates are decreasing the distance I'll order from (about 700 miles) and requesting "hold for pickup".

One of my worst hatches was USPS express shipped. Won't make that mistake again. Cost more and rougher handling.

 

[RoseHawke]

UPS and FedEx do not ship live chicks but I have never looked into if they ship hatching eggs... anyone know? I'd be willing to pay extra just to try them out.

If you do a search for "best shipper for fragile items" or something similar, FedEx seems to come up. I know they're relatively expensive compared to USPS, but again, it might be a false economy. I know I'd be more inclined to spend an extra 20-30 bucks if it meant that the eggs were less likely to arrive scrambled.

 

[kelseyk]

Fingers crossed! Has anyone ever tried shipping with UPS or FedEx to see if they're any better? USPS seems so awful that any savings up front seems a false economy if "the goods" don't arrive in decent shape.

I have wondered that as well.

 

[Trisseh]

I’m not sure in the US, but in Canada fedex will handle eggs for sure. The hatchery I’ve been getting my eggs from has fedex as an option, with the caveat of a specific minimum amount ordered. I don’t know if that makes a difference or not or if that’s just the hatchery policy, but if I was ordering more I would definitely use fedex over the postal service. Canada post is just as bad as it sounds usps is.

 

[AgnesGray]

The first order I placed that just hatched was from foxfirepapillons (I have had really good luck with her eggs - had great development and hatch rates with both sets of eggs I got from her and they are always packaged well). This second batch that I just ordered is from blue-ribbon_farms .

I have some blue ribbon babies as well that hatched this spring. I got a cool green egg with brown speckles from her that sadly didn't hatch that I'm still trying to identify.

 

[ShrekDawg]

Here’s the pictures of the chicks haha sorry it took so long!! and sorry if they’re out of order or anything

Spoiler

 

[RoseHawke]

I have some blue ribbon babies as well that hatched this spring. I got a cool green egg with brown speckles from her that sadly didn't hatch that I'm still trying to identify.

It's a "him" actually.

 

[Muscovy Wunda]

UPS and FedEx do not ship live chicks but I have never looked into if they ship hatching eggs... anyone know? I'd be willing to pay extra just to try them out.

I'm not from US either but eggs just go in the regular mail here. We don't have to declare what is in the package unless it's going to Western Australia so that's an advantage. But fedex is a freight company and they will freight anything here you like

 

[FortCluck]

Sad day. We had to put down one of my 2 year old sex links named Dolly She got injured somehow and didn’t recover the past two weeks. We did antibiotics and everything we could. We even wrapped the injuries. She was declining.

Here’s her being the weirdo she always was every single day...

I’m a wreck

 

[kelseyk]

If you do a search for "best shipper for fragile items" or something similar, FedEx seems to come up. I know they're relatively expensive compared to USPS, but again, it might be a false economy. I know I'd be more inclined to spend an extra 20-30 bucks if it meant that the eggs were less likely to arrive scrambled.

Out here, FedEx is only a small step up from USPS. I don't know how many boxes I have received torn or with holes in them from FedEx. Although, it also seems to depend on which "level" of FedEx is used.